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Cons:

Considering that Sonic's recent console adventures have ranged in quality from merely OK to pretty awful, one can hardly blame us for being a bit skeptical when we first started playing the hedgehog's latest game, Sonic Unleashed. Not helping matters is the title's new gimmick, that seems to be ripped straight from some kid's fan fiction -- Sonic can turn into a werewolf (sorry..."werehog").

The game begins with a great cinema sequence that explains Sonic's lycanthropic condition. Dr. Robotnik (or Eggman, as he seems to be exclusively called these days) has constructed a powerful laser that harnesses the dark power contained within the Sonic universe's Chaos Emeralds. The beam shatters the world into seven continents and awakens a creature known as Dark Gaia. Unfortunately, Sonic was trapped in the beam, causing him to undergo a transformation into his werehog form when the moon comes out. As he sets off to right all of Eggman's wrongs, Sonic befriends a critter called Chip. Chip is sort of a poor man's Daxter, and he'll quickly have you longing for the days when it was just Tails that followed our hero around.

The big surprise when the game actually starts is how much fun it is. As Sonic, you barrel through fantastic-looking stages full of loops, ramps, boost panels, and springs, collecting rings as you go. As you run though each level, the camera shifts effortlessly between a 3D "behind Sonic" view to the more traditional side-scrolling view. The transitions work extremely well, and help to blend the old and new styles of Sonic gameplay.

These stages are a blast to play, and they only occasionally suffer from the "this game is playing itself" syndrome that seems unavoidable in 3D Sonic titles. The stages also sport branching paths that require lighting-fast reflexes to reach, so you'll find yourself replaying each level in order to fully explore it. You'll also want to retry the stages to earn better ranks for them. Grades are given based on performance, and doing well earns you medals that are used to unlock stages later in the game. You can also replay many of the stages, where you must accomplish specific goals such as collecting a certain number of rings or reaching the end without destroying any structures within the stage.